PDS Planning Inc Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

PDS Planning Inc increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,010 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.5% of PDS Planning Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Leeward Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 40,404 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,386,000 after buying an additional 4,202 shares in the last quarter. Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the third quarter. Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,231 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,972,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,228,198 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $528,494,000 after acquiring an additional 50,121 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 3,020,221 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,299,601,000 after acquiring an additional 53,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIDELIS iM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the third quarter. FIDELIS iM LLC now owns 1,780 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $766,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $423.35 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.08. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.